Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve palliative care services in Surrey Heath constituency.

Palliative care services are included in the list of services an integrated care board (ICB), including the Surrey Heartlands ICB, must commission. ICBs are responsible for the commissioning of palliative care and end of life care services, to meet the needs of their local populations. To support ICBs in this duty, NHS England has published statutory guidance and service specifications.

Whilst the majority of palliative care and end of life care services are provided by the National Health Service, we recognise the pressures hospices are facing, which is why we are supporting the hospice sector with a £100 million capital funding boost for eligible adult and children’s hospices in England to ensure they have the best physical environment for care. The nearest hospice, the Woking and Sam Beare Hospice, received £160,768 in 2024/25 and will receive £481,630 in 2025/26.

We are also providing £26 million in revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices for 2025/26. This is a continuation of the funding which, until recently, was known as the Children and Young People’s Hospice Grant. The nearest children and young people’s hospice, the Shooting Star Children’s Hospice, received £1,879,000 in 2025/26.

I can also now confirm the continuation of this vital funding for the three years of the next Spending Review period, from 2026/27 to 2028/29 inclusive. This funding will see approximately £26 million, adjusted for inflation, allocated to children and young people’s hospices in England each year, via their local ICBs on behalf of NHS England, as happened in 2024/25 and 2025/26. This amounts to approximately £80 million over the next three years.

The Department and NHS England are currently looking at how to improve the access, quality, and sustainability of all-age palliative care and end of life care in line with the 10-Year Health Plan.

Officials will present further proposals to ministers over the coming months, outlining the drivers and incentives that are required in palliative care and end of life care to enable the shift from hospital to community, including as part of neighbourhood health teams.